Sounds Like Love

By: Ashley Poston

Narrated by: Patti Murin, Ashley Poston

A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip and A Novel Love Story.

Named a Most Anticipated book of Summer 2025 by The New York Times ∙ People ∙ USA Today ∙ Marie Claire ∙ E! News ∙ Brit + Co ∙ Yahoo! Life ∙ She Reads ∙ and more!

Joni Lark has a secret. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA, and yet she can’t write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it.

When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark inspiration. But when Joni gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is hiding something, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing.

How can Joni write when her world is leaving her behind?

Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with an emptiness of his own.

Surely, he’s a figment of Joni’s overworked imagination.

Then a very real man shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s arrogant and guarded—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan for breaking their inconvenient telepathic connection: finish the song haunting them both and hope they don’t risk their hearts—or their secrets—in the process.

Because that melody, the one drawing them together . . . what if it’s there for a reason?

©2025 Ashley Poston (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Sounds Like Love gives new meaning to what it means to make a ‘connection’ with someone. The whimsy and what-ifs of Ashley Poston’s novels have made her a must-buy for me!”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

"Ashley Poston charms once again with Sounds Like Love. Deeply romantic and delightfully whimsical, every page had me humming along. This story will be on repeat in my head for a while.”—B.K. Borison, New York Times bestselling author of First Time Caller

"I didn’t think it was possible to love Ashley Poston’s books any more than I already did, but Sounds Like Love is my new favorite. Romantic, deeply thoughtful, and exquisitely written, this one absolutely wrecked me."—Annabel Monaghan, USA Today bestselling author of Summer Romance

A beautiful story woven together in a poetic, lyrical way

The story is read well. Perfect inflection and pace.
But without the words, even the best storytelling can't weave the magic.
A Poston has created the perfect story that includes throw-back & new music, rich characters, and realistic situations about dementia.
It is a love story wrapped up in a song.
I will refer back to this story whenever I want to determine if another story contains all of the coponents necessary to create a perfect world for the reader to lose himself/herself in.

Worth the Credit!

Sounds Like Love is cute with some heavy themes of loss. Joni is struggling emotionally when she came home to North Carolina, but was a successful songwriter in LA. She had writer's block until a melody came to mind along with a man's thought. Sebastian (Sasha) was in a boy bond, and his father was a famous rockstar. He was struggling in LA, because of how horrible his father is. When Sasha figured out where Joni is, he flew to her. Not only does her family owns a musical venue/bar called The Revelry, but there was long ago connection between Sasha and Joni that they knew nothing about. As they wrote their song from the simple melody they shared, the more distant their minds became because they grew emotionally and romantically closer. There is an edge of women's fiction to the story, but it didn't detract from the romance. Joni's mom had dementia and there were a few scenes that showed the struggle, but it wasn't prominent in the story like Say You'll Remember Me and Can't Get Enough. I really liked both Joni and Sasha as characters, and even the secondary characters were well written. I liked the musical tie-ins as the chapter headings, which gave the book a vibe that I really liked!

Ashley Poston is a Queen

Loved it! I was hooked from the very first chapter, and then Joni and Sebastian reeled me in. Their stories and chemistry was everything I didn’t know I needed in 2025. Don’t even get me started on the Iwan and Clementine cameos.

This one also hit home because it explores the relationship between a daughter and her parent with dementia. Don’t listen to the audiobook while driving like I did 😬😭

Love Ashley Poston so much!

This was such a beautiful book with great narration! I ate this one up, smiled and cried…my only complaint is that they moved a little too fast for my liking but what can you expect from a book that’s 378 pages long… excited for her next book!

The cutest, heartfelt, musical, magical read!

I loved this book. It comes with a beautiful song, a sweet love story, a heartfelt and sad story as well for the main character’s mother, and such beauty in the music they make. Another 5 star by Ashley.🥹